How the Wizard Saved Oz is Donald Abbott's sequel to his own How the Wizard Came to Oz. It was published in 1996 by the Emerald City Press.
Plot summary[]
Oscar Diggs, the "Wizard" of the Land of Oz, sits in his throne room in the Emerald City, fearing that he is doomed to be a reclusive ruler for the rest of his life. One day he is surprised when a visitor intrudes upon him. The Queen of the Field Mice informs him that all of her people have disappeared. Oscar, fearing the danger to himself should people discover that his powers are fraudulent, tells her he cannot help her at this time. When the Queen calls his bluff by threatening to spread rumors that he is a fake, Oscar finds that he must agree to her request. The only clue to the whereabouts of the rodent-napped mice is a piece of cloth from the tailor shop of Ohbo in Lavendoria, a Gillikin town.
Oscar and the Queen travel to a cavern beneath the palace. It contains the Throne of Oscar's predecessor King Pastoria, a kind and compassionate man who attacked by the witch Mombi, who transformed him into a bird. The king flew away and was never seen again. His evil half brother General Riskitt, a man hated by the Ozites for his cruelty, attempted to take the rulership of Oz from the Oscar by seizing the literal Throne, but no one would join his cause. With the help of Captain Omby Amby, Oscar banished Riskitt, and hid the Throne in the cavern.
Traveling across the Mauve Mountains of Gillikinland, Oscar and the Queen head for Lavendoria. Their path is blocked by the Whoozis, a large maneating beast with the body of a lizard, the neck of a giraffe, the head of a hippopotamus, and the tail of a peacock. Oscar scares the beast away with a ventriloquistic dragon performance. However, the next beast in the gauntlet is the Whatzis, which has the body of a tiger, the head of an elephant, and the wings of an eagle. When Oscar tries the same trick, the beast calls his bluff by pointing out that the distinctive smell of dragons cannot be detected. However, the beast is pathologically afraid of the sight of a mouse, so it is the Queen who saves Oscar.
The rescuers then come to a strange cottage carved from a large pumpkin, where the witch Mombi is brewing potions. Oscar suspects that she is the same witch who destroyed Pastoria, and thus refuses any beverage she offers. Continuing on with the Queen, Oscar meets a Wogglebug (although not the Wogglebug) who saved the life of Ohbo the tailor from a trap which Mombi set, and thus was given a fancy suit in gratitude. Oscar travels on to Ohbo's shop, but finds that Ohbo is in Munchkinland, taking a rest cure after his trauma. A further disturbing event comes when the Wizard sees his old enemy, General Riskitt, riding through town on a unicorn. Recognizing Riskitt's cape as a match for the cloth scrap which was left at the scene of the great mouse robbery, Oscar and the Queen know they have found their man.
The Queen spies upon Riskitt, who has gone to meet with Mombi. They have mousenapped all of the Queen's people and forced them to operate a machine which is meant to suck all magic out of the realm and bestow it within Riskitt. As a surety, Mombi reminds Riskitt of how she defeated Pastoria at his request. However, the machine will not work until just one more mouse is added. Mombi's magic soon detects the presence of the spy, and the villains chase after the Queen, hoping to force her into the machine's vacant treadmill.
The Queen tells Oscar about the machine, but Mombi's magic has revealed the Wizard's identity. She transforms into a griffin and snatches the Queen away from the Wizard's protection. Meanwhile, General Riskitt seeks to challenge the Wizard to a sword duel. Oscar learned basic swordplay from Sharpy the sword swallower at Bailum & Barney Circus, and is just barely able to hold his own, and trick Riskitt into knocking himself unconscious against an oak tree. He rushes to Mombi's pumpkin cottage, only to fall into a trap door.
With the Mouse Queen under her control, Mombi is able to activate the machine. However, she betrays her promise to Riskitt, and claims the magic of Oz for herself, starting with transforming herself to be young and beautiful. The angry General raises his sword, but Mombi melts it with lightning from her hand, causing Riskitt to flee.
Using tricks learned from Bailum & Barney's escapologist the Great Spandini, Oscar breaks out of the basement and discovers Mombi's potions lab. He pockets the Growth Powder for later use. Mombi is busy boasting about the machine, whose plans she stole from a crooked magician - presumably Dr. Nikidik and/or Dr. Pipt - who intended to destroy his notes so that such a dangerous machine would never threaten Oz. The Wizard sneaks in and feeds the Growth Powder to the Field Mice, who break free of the machine. With its power no longer generating, Mombi's magic fails and she resumes her ugly form. The machine threatens to explode, and the cottage is evacuated before it explodes. Mombi resumes her griffin shape and flies away. The Field Mice begin their journey home, while the Wizard intends to make a detour before returning to the Emerald City.
News of the Wizard's defeat of Mombi precedes him, so he is not hindered by any beasts as he journeys across Gillikinland. He comes to a farm where Mombi has taken up residence, accompanied by the slave boy Tip. Mombi tells the Wizard that she has no power left to threaten him. After he leaves, she recites a soliloquy which confirms that Tip is in fact the transformed Ozma, daughter of Pastoria who was transformed into a bird. Mombi intends to rebuild her power by cheating tricks away from the crooked magician.
The Wizard returns home, and looks over the Throne of Pastoria in the cavern. General Riskitt has followed him, and ambushes him, capturing him with a net. The timely arrival of the Field Mice turns the tables by tripping up Riskitt and liberating the Wizard. The Queen explains that she had sighted Riskitt heading toward the Emerald City, and deduced that he intended mischief. The Wizard declares Riskitt under arrest, but the General flees, only to fall off a ledge and into an underground river which pulls him to the center of the earth.
The mice stay as Oscar's guests for a week, but when they depart he returns to his blue mood, little suspecting that one day Dorothy Gale will come and set him free from his self-imposed exile.
Trivia[]
While most characters come from L. Frank Baum's Oz books, or are Abbott's own inventions, General Riskitt originates from the 1902 Oz stage play.
The Whoozis and Whatzis were mentioned in the "Jitterbug" song which was written for but not featured in the 1939 movie.
Mombi's soliloquy suggests that the Wizard is unaware of Ozma's existence, contradicting Mombi's claim in Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz that he delivered the infant to her for safekeeping. (The original novel does not make clear whether his motive was benevolent or malevolent.)
The story of Pastoria's downfall contradicts the official story which Ruth Plumly Thompson provided in The Lost King of Oz, presumably due to the latter novel being under copyright at the time.